Florida-based developer Glenn Straub—who just sold the former Revel casino in Atlantic City—says he still wants to play a major role in redeveloping the resort where he owns more than 60 properties through his company Polo North Inc.
Straub owns 43 of those properties in the city’s South Inlet section where the Revel is located. The developer told the local Press of Atlantic City he wants to be named as the official redevelopment agent for the area.
“Even after the sale, Polo North is still the largest non-casino property owner on the Boardwalk,” Straub told the paper. “We will move forward and be a spark for catalyzing positive economic movement in Atlantic City.”
According to state property records, Polo North does own 43 properties in the Inlet with one of the largest being a nearly acre-sized parcel near the Boardwalk on Rhode Island Avenue. Straub purchased the open lot, once valued at $2.8 million, for $367,430 in April 2015, according to the Press report.
Straub recently sold Revel to AC Ocean Walk, a group led by Colorado-based investor Bruce Deifik, for $200 million. Deifik has said he hopes to re-open the property this summer as the Ocean Resort Casino. Straub paid $82 million for the casino out of bankruptcy in 2015.
Though Straub had a long, torturous experience trying to re-open at least parts of the casino—which never happened—he said he still envisions big things for that area of the city’s Boardwalk. The area has already seen a major extension of the city’s Boardwalk into the northern inlet of the city and will see both the Ocean resort and the planned Hard Rock casino—on the site of the former Trump Taj Mahal—open this summer. A residential project called The Beach at South Inlet is also expected to open soon.
“This used to be the end of the Boardwalk, now it’s in the middle,” Straub said. “This is one of three areas that we want to clean up.”
Straub said he will ask the city to name him the redeveloper for the area, which could allow him to use imminent domain proceedings to acquire other properties.
However, city officials didn’t sound too interested in naming a redevelopment agent for the area.
Council President Marty Small said he has not spoken to Straub about the redevelopment of the area.
“We are not going to name anyone,” City Council President Marty Small told the paper. “If people are interested in development in the city, they are going to have to go through a process. It has nothing to do with Glenn Straub.”
Straub, on the other hand, has also talked about purchasing the city’s Boardwalk Hall entertainment venue and its former municipal airport Bader Field.
In a related story, Hard Rock International recently posted advertisements saying it wants to rehire former Taj Mahal workers as it closes in on re-opening the refurbished property. The company is looking for former Taj employees who were employed at least 30 days before the property closed in October 2016.
Job opportunities include positions in food and beverage, hotel operation, table games, slot operations, cage operations, marketing and entertainment.
Hard Rock and its investors spending about $500 million to completely renovate the property ahead of its planned opening.
